Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus, a control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Some image capturing apparatuses such as digital cameras are capable of outputting an image signal that can generate, after image-capturing, an image in a focus state that is different from that of an image obtained by the image-capturing. In an image capturing apparatus such as a so-called plenoptic camera, as shown in FIG. 11, a microlens array 1102 is provided between an image capturing element 1103 and a lens 1101 of an optical system. By configuring an image capturing optical system in this way, pupil division that divides a light flux incident on each microlens can be performed so as to record an image. That is, with such an image capturing apparatus, light reflected from a subject can be recorded as an image signal (light field information) with respect to the position and direction of incidence. By using the light field information obtained in the manner described above to perform pixel sorting based on predetermined criteria, it is possible to reproduce a light distribution in a plane corresponding to a predetermined focal length.
The light field information indicates pixel values of different adjacent pixels corresponding to a light flux that has undergone pupil division, and it is therefore not possible to obtain an image representing a subject by simply being displayed without changing the sequence. In order to obtain an image representing a subject, a light distribution in a plane corresponding to a specific focal length (plane focused to a specific subject distance) is reproduced, and thereafter it is necessary to perform reconstruction processing for generating pixels by adding up pixels corresponding to the light flux that has undergone pupil division. However, the reconstruction processing requires a predetermined computation time. Accordingly, in the case of, for example, generating and list displaying images relating to a plurality of pieces of light field information, it may take time to generate an image based on each piece of light field information and list display the generated images. To address this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-219878 discloses a method in which a thumbnail image generated by thinning out pixels is recorded together with the light field information and the thumbnail images are list displayed.
However, because images in different focus states focused in a plurality of subject distances can be generated based on the light field information, the displayed thumbnail images may not be in a desired focus state.
To address this, it is conceivable to record in advance the thumbnail images corresponding to a plurality of subject distances together with their light field information, but if all of the plurality of thumbnail images are displayed in a list, the plurality of images in different focus states are arranged on the same screen. Particularly, on a display of a list displaying a plurality of pieces of light field information, not only a group of thumbnail images in many similar focus states are arranged with respect to a single piece of light field information, but also a plurality of such groups of thumbnail images are arranged as a whole. Accordingly, it has been difficult for the user to find a desired image.